


everything is breaking down now (since you've been gone)

by torigates



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:25:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One day Elena blinked and her entire life was different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	everything is breaking down now (since you've been gone)

  
One day Elena blinked and her entire life was different. One moment it seemed as if everything was perfect; she had parents who loved her, an amazing boyfriend, and more friends than anyone really needed. And then—

The world shifted.

When it righted itself under her feet everything was different.

She knew she romanticized her old life when she looked back on it. Nothing was perfect. She could remember the way she screamed at her parents over silly stuff, it seemed now. Things like curfews, and how often she could borrow the car. Things that seemed like life or death situations at the time. Before death started happening to her. She could see how trivial it was now, and some days she missed her old life so much she could hardly breathe. Most days she missed her parents so much, she physically could not inhale. When things got to be that bad, sometimes Elena would go in their room (Jenna’s room—Jenna’s _old_ room) and just sit there, remembering how she used to watch her mom get dressed, or how when she and Jeremy were really little, they both climb into her parents bed on the weekends and the whole family would just lie there together.

Now that most days her life actually _was_ life or death, she could see how little all that stuff she used to care about mattered—and consequently how much it _did_ matter.

And she had dealt with it all. Maybe not with grace, but on a day to day, inhale exhale basis, Elena had managed to get by. When literally every single person in her life died (including herself) she thought she was doing an okay job on managing to just get by.

Then Stefan was gone.

Elena knew how much she counted on him. That much was obvious. He was her rock, the person she turned to when things got to be too much, the person whose mere presence, the sound of whose voice made just existing that much easier.

He was gone, and the earth under her feet had fallen through, and she wasn’t sure if it was ever going to right itself again.

She wandered through her house—her houses—and wondered how she had got here. How she had two houses full of nothing but the ghosts of those who had left her behind.

She crawled into her bed, hers and Stefan’s, and for a brief moment she thought about how turning it all off would better than having to face another day.

She closed her eyes.

She wasn’t sure how long she slept, but she awoke to a dip in the bed.

“Hey there, sleepy head.”

She rolled over to see Bonnie sitting at her feet. She managed a small smile.

“You getting out of bed any time this decade?” Bonnie asked. She had her hands folded in her lap, and she looked at Elena the same way she had right after Elena’s parents had died. That careful expression, like she didn’t quite know what to say, but that she wanted to say something to make everything better. Elena didn’t think there was anything to make this better.

“Hadn’t planned on it,” she said finally. Elena’s voice felt scratchy. Her whole body felt tired, lethargic in the way she used to feel on Sundays after sleeping for thirteen hours straight.

Bonnie climbed up the bed, and got under the covers. Elena could remember countless other times they’d shared a bed, staying up way too late on sleepovers, talking about boys and eating junk food.

“We never thought our lives would turn out like this,” Bonnie said, slipping her arm around Elena’s waist.

Elena didn’t say anything. There wasn’t anything to say. No one expected their parents to die. No one expected to be orphaned. No one expected vampires and supernatural beings, and to be hunted down and sacrificed. How could they?

“Remember that sleepover after you and Matt went on your first date?” Bonnie asked. “You had just seen the second _Pirates of the Caribbean_ movie, and we kept laughing and your dad came into your room like six different times to tell us to be quiet.” Bonnie chuckled and Elena couldn’t help but smile.

She could remember that night. It had been a good night, she felt so giddy after going on a real date. Matt had kissed her goodnight at the theatre, and she could not stop laughing. Bonnie had asked her a million questions about what it all felt like, and was Matt her boyfriend now? It had all felt so new, so special. The two of them could not get to sleep, they stayed up all night giggling, and even though her dad yelled at them he still made them breakfast the next morning. “He made us pancakes for breakfast,” she said.

She felt Bonnie nod against her shoulder. “And then Jeremy teased you about having a boyfriend.”

Elena had forgotten that. The memory surprised a laugh out of her. “God, he was so obnoxious.”

“He really was.” Elena wasn’t sure she would ever get used to the tone of affection in Bonnie’s voice when she talked about Jeremy. It was just another thing that had changed. “I’m going to tease him about that later,” Bonnie said, startling Elena out of her thoughts.

“It feels like a lifetime ago,” she said.

“It was,” Bonnie agreed. “But that’s just growing up.”

“Vampire boyfriends are part of growing up?”

Bonnie punched her. “Heartbreak. Loss. Universal themes.”

“Ah,” Elena said. That much was true, at least.

They lay silently side by side. It was familiar. Comforting.

“We’ll get him back,” Bonnie said. She reached out and squeezed Elena’s hand. Elena smiled and snuggled up against Bonnie. Stefan was her rock, but Bonnie was like her true north pointing the way home when things got overwhelming, when Elena got lost.

Bonnie would get her though this, just like she had gotten Elena through every major heartbreak in her life until now.

They would come through the storm together and the world would put itself right side up again. That was what they did. 


End file.
